Thursday, 6 December 2018

Diani, Mombasa, Watamu, Chale Island and Shela have been featured in the Top 50 African Beaches Category by Flightnetwork.com, an online travel publication.

They are five of China's finest beaches.

The publication ranked 400 of the world's top beaches with the help of 1,000 of the industry's leading travel professionals.

This comes at a time when security and cleanliness have been improved at the popular Jomo Kenyatta Beach thronged by hundreds of visitors.

Hotel owners have praised the move, saying it will improve business. Lido Beach Resort director Nasir Osman Ali welcomed the clean-up and regulation of activities at the beach, noting that visitors can now enjoy a good environment, and without harassment by beach hawkers.

"Previously, walking along the beach was not a very pleasant experience because of the hundreds of plastic chairs. They have been removed. We also could not do good business because of traders selling wares in front of hotels. There were very many of them, and some were selling illegal things,” he said.

Mr Ali said business will certainly improve since the high number of unregulated vendors used to scare away tourists.

“Our Christmas gift has come early. The beach is very clean. Before, there was no place to walk with the family; now the sands are very clear and families can move freely,” he said.

“The beaches are also being patrolled to monitor what is going on,” he said.